Reciprocating piston positive displacement pumps, often called power pumps, are ubiquitous, highly developed machines used in myriad applications. However, a reciprocating piston power pump is inherently a hydraulic pressure pulse generator producing hydraulic imposed forces that cause wear and tear on various pump components, including but not limited to piping connected to the pump, the pump cylinder block or so-called fluid end, inlet and discharge valves, including actuating springs, and seal components, including piston or plunger seals.
There has been a longstanding need to provide improved performance analysis for reciprocating piston power pumps, in particular, to determine if deteriorations in pump performance are occurring, to analyze the source of decreased performance and to further provide an analysis which may be used to schedule replacing certain so-called expendable parts of the pump prior to possible catastrophic failure.
Pump operating characteristics can have a deleterious affect on pump performance. For example, delayed valve closing and sealing can result in loss of volumetric efficiency, and indicate a need for increased pulsation dampener sizing requirements. Factors affecting pump valve performance include fluid properties, valve spring design and fatigue life, valve design and the design of the cylinder or fluid end housing. For example, delayed valve response also causes a higher pump chamber pressure than normal. Higher pump chamber pressures may cause overloads on pump mechanical components, including the pump crankshaft or eccentric and its bearings, speed reduction gearing, the pump drive shaft and the pump prime mover. Moreover, increased fluid acceleration induced pressure “spikes” in the pump suction and discharge flowstreams can be deleterious. Fluid properties are also subject to analysis to determine compressibility, the existence of entrained gases in the pump fluid stream, susceptibility to cavitation and the affect of pump cylinder or fluid end design on fluid properties and vice versa.
Still further, piston or plunger seal or packing leaking can result in increased delay of pump discharge valve opening with increased hydraulic flow and acceleration induced hydraulic forces imposed on the pump and its discharge piping. Moreover, proper sizing and setup of pulsation control equipment is important to the efficiency and long life of a pump system. Pulsation control equipment location and type can also affect pump performance as well as the piping system connected to the pump.
Accordingly, as mentioned above, there has been a continuing need to provide a system and method for pump performance analysis which is convenient to use, may be easily installed on existing working pump systems, may provide for determination of what factors are affecting pump performance and may identify what pump components may be in a state of deterioration from design or ideal operating conditions. It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.